Medical Students to Bolster Welsh Ambulance Service

Medical students will respond to 999 calls in areas of Cardiff as part of the first scheme of its kind in the UK. Some 30 students from Cardiff University have been trained as first responders to help the ambulance service deal with patients suffering from cardiac arrests.

The group - the first of its kind to be staffed completely by medical students - will cover the Cathays and Heath areas of Cardiff.

And the students behind the first responder scheme, which will officially be launched on Thursday, hope it could be adopted by other medical schools in Wales and England.

More than 300 Cardiff University medical students have joined the first responder society, which was set up by fifth-year students Huw Williams and Rhian Davies, both 22.

As well as providing a life-saving service, it will also give those trained as first responders valuable hands-on experience.

And the huge pool of students will mean that there will always be a supply of people to be trained as volunteer first responders in the area.

Work to set up the group started more than a year ago as a result of Huw and Rhian's experience at the Pre-Hospital Emergency Research Unit, at Cardiff University.

Huw said, "All medical students want to help the community around them but a lot of us are also aware that within a year's time we will be practising somewhere in Wales and this experience will be invaluable."

First responders are trained by the Welsh Ambulance Service to carry out basic life-saving skills, how to recognise cardiac conditions, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and the use of a defibrillator.

They fill the gap between the time someone makes a 999 call and the time it takes a rapid response vehicle or ambulance to arrive.

They provide vital early help which can make the difference between life or death if someone is suffering from a cardiac arrest.

There are currently more than 100 schemes working throughout Wales. Volunteers from all parts of the country can train to become a first responder - those who have already include Welsh ladies darts international Natalie Evans, in Cwmllynfell, chapel minister Gerwyn Roberts, from Llanrwst and gravedigger Byron Evans, in Llantwit Major.

Tony Rossetti, the Welsh Ambulance Service's first responder officer for South East Wales, said, "When first responder schemes were initially launched they were predominantly aimed at rural areas but, because the number of calls to the ambulance service is now so much greater in some of the built-up areas, there is a need for community responders in these settings.

"They can get to a call minutes ahead of an ambulance and make a difference."

The Medics First Responders will answer the same type of calls as other first responder groups around Wales.

Despite the fact that they are doctors-in-training, they will not work outside their remit to provide essential life-saving aid to patients suffering a cardiac arrest.

Mr Rossetti added, "The students will benefit from working as first responders and working in a pre-hospital setting.

"It is unlikely, at this stage, that they will have dealt with any real life-threatening conditions as part of their education. Few of them will have dealt with a real cardiac arrest, something they will almost certainly experience as a first responder. "This will give them great experience and it will make a difference to a lot of people's lives in the area."

Lifesavers make appeal for more volunteers

One of Wales' busiest first responder groups is appealing for more volunteers. The Caerphilly First Responders has been called out to 800 incidents in the past 18 months and needs more members and equipment. Mike Williams, the group's co-ordinator and a police officer in Cardiff, said, "Numbers have dropped lately and it's been a struggle for us because we are such a busy area.